Don't know if it is safe to return to your office? This app will help

Do you work in a big organisation with offices across the city and are eager to get back to the workplace but getting jitters due to concerns related to COVID-19?

A mobile application will soon help you understand which office is safe, and when you can travel to the office.

Wipro Lighting is bringing a solution called 'Office Shifts', developed by Netherlands-based Mapiq to India. This will enable employers to enforce social distancing at workplaces by using the application to evenly distribute employees in a building.

Across India, workplaces are operating at 10 percent to 33 percent capacity depending on the local government rules. For large companies, manually managing the workplace schedule to decide which employee would come on what day could be a logistical nightmare.

Anuj Dhir, VP & Business Head, Commercial Lighting, Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, said while companies are slowly resuming the process of letting employees back to the workplace, social distancing norms need to be strictly maintained.

"For large organisations with multiple offices in various locations, it could be an administrative challenge to do it manually. Hence, this solution will enable them to map the offices effectively," he added.

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While Dhir did not share the pricing details for the application, he explained that the price will depend on the size of the building and the number of occupants.

In April 2019, Wipro Lighting and Mapiq had announced a partnership for working in the area of smart workplaces in India. Here, Mapiq's interactive cloud solutions (like 3D maps) has been integrated with the smart lighting offerings of Wipro Lighting.

Also Read: COVID-19 impact | As workers return, attendance systems at offices set for radical changes

Ramakrishna Puranam, senior general manager-smart and connected sales, Wipro Lighting said that there will be a dashboard for the employers to setup the office and pre-plan the employee shift schedule.

He added that the software is available as a subscription-based model built on SaaS (Software as a Service) model.

"Customers can pay either as per building, per month or per building, per year model. This makes it less capital intensive and easy to afford," he added.

Dhir said Wipro Lighting will reach out to existing customers to offer this solution. At a later stage, this solution will be integrated with the existing smart workplaces platform of Wipro Lighting.

Under this solution, employees can see through the application as to when they are allowed to go to office in a week, which building has been assigned to them. This will ensure that the employees do not visit unauthorised locations in a building which could be potentially unsafe.

Employers will manage the dashboard by assigning specific buildings, floors and days for employees when they can potentially travel to office.

However, there is no location tracking system in the application and the platform merely gives information on which area has been assigned to an employee and on which day.

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